Citadel of Stars
by Dustbowl Dance
Summary: or fifteen truths about Nate Black and Tess Tyler. Threeshot
1. Lace and Moonlight

Citadel of Stars

It is highly suggested that you listen to the song "Citadel of Stars" by Iver at some point during or after this fic. It's the inspiration for this story and is truly a beautiful song. Plus, I can really see Nick's and Meaghan's voices working for the song.

Flufftastic. I just can't bring myself to make these two angsty.

-

I.

He says he hates her sequined dresses, but he really finds them strangely appealing.

II.

Even though most girls dig his "look at me I'm so serious" look, Tess thinks it's a little goofy. She'd prefer it if he could smile a little more.

III.

The first time Nate talks to her, he's not really sure what to think.

After touring with the band and sometimes Mitchie and sometimes Caitlyn and usually Peggy all year, and realizing it's going in a different, albeit good, direction, things are a little hectic in Nate's life. He's seriously considering some sort of solo project, so he goes to see Brown one day for advice, because he wants real advice and not cheap talk from a "manager" who really only cares about making money.

He explains his desire to do something more with his own music, and how he's been writing a few songs, and how he feels like he's totally out of the loop at the camp he used to call heaven on earth, and how he's lost inspiration. Things he wasn't even aware he felt come tumbling out of his mouth and the "reserved" member of Connect 3 is incredibly embarrassed.

Brown remains silent for a few moments before speaking.

"You know, Nate, I hate to be an opportunist here and I'd hate to make you think I was taking advantage of you, but there's a girl here who could probably help you out with your songwriting. And she probably needs a friend even more than you do." Nate gladly takes Brown's advice, because he was true music veteran who has his campers' best interests at heart and seeks out Tess Tyler, against his own better judgment.

It's clear to Nate she's the one ostracized this year. There's always one camper who just doesn't have any friends, for one reason or another. And to tell you the truth, it is kind of obvious she would be the one left out. He doesn't expect this completely different girl, though. She has presumably foregone the usual styling products, and for the first time he sees her as this fresh-faced girl. She's even traded her usual glitzy clothing, instead wearing khakis and a pink tee shirt. She looks at him curiously as he approaches her awkwardly in the cafeteria during free time. He feels a pang as he realizes he's probably the first person to speak with her all summer. He brushes it off, because this is the time to be business-like and not the time to acknowledge feelings he doesn't quite understand.

"Hey," he says after clearing his throat. It's become pretty dry. "Um…."

"Can I help you?" Tess asks suspiciously.

"Yeah, actually. I'm writing some material for future songs, but they're not going to sell unless I have at least one or two about love, since that seems to be popular, you know? And Brown said you could help me." He stumbles through his well-prepared speech.

"Mitchie would probably be more of a help," she mutters, looking down into her lap.

"I dunno. Brown specifically said you were the one to talk to. Unless you don't want to work with me, I would totally understand…" Truth be told, he hadn't even considered her turning him down. He's not good with rejection, and even some camper telling him she didn't want to help him is a little unnerving.

"I'll help," she says eventually. She extends her hand to him, and he shakes it, smiling at her.

Her smile lights up her face.

-

After three weeks of writing night and day, they become something akin to friends. They eat together at lunch, and say hello to each other when they pass by each other, and Nate tries to get his friends to stop being so mean to her.

She tells him flat out when they first start working together that she's not willing to just open up, and that she's not comfortable talking about herself. That's fine by Nate, since he really just wants help writing lyrics, but as they work on their song, he starts to wonder what motivates her to write the things she does, and why she avoids the subject of her family. He senses she doesn't quite trust him yet, so he tells her about himself so when she decides to talk, she knows he's genuine. He tells her about his little sister that he misses because he never really gets to see her, about the elementary school he went to where he has all his best memories, and pretty much anything else he can think of. She listens, and smiles when he rambles on.

Sometimes he thinks she's quite pretty.

The other campers still hate her, so she doesn't have many friends. He makes a point to show everyone else that he's her friend, and after a while they stop being so outright rude to her.

She starts to tell him a little about herself afterward.

-

They perform their song at one of the Campfire Jams. Shane and Jason have no idea he even had a song prepared, let alone that Tess was singing with him. He tells her she's like a secret weapon, because once he convinces her to forget the synthesizer, he realizes she has a beautiful voice. It's not as unique as Peggy's or as strong as Mitchie's, but it's Tess. And it's _good_.  
They take the stage amidst hesitant applause, and Nate sits down at the keyboard Caitlyn had been using moments before. Tess sits next to him, almost hiding behind him. She's shaking, she's never been this nervous to perform before, and Nate guesses it's because the music is way different than anything she's performed. He squeezes her hand before he starts to play.

The piano music is much different from his usual style, and the crowd is hushed into silence and he and Tess make their way through the first verse.

_And until now, I never touched an angel_

_And until now, everything was fine_

_And until now, I felt so ordinary_

_And until now, I never knew that someone felt like me_

They switch off on lines during the chorus, and their voices blend seamlessly when they sing together.

There's a brief pause at the end, when all of the campers absorb the music.

The applause is deafening.

As they take their bows, Nate beams at Tess. She tugs his hand gently and leans in to ask him a question.

"Are we still friends?" she asks nervously.

"Of course," he replies automatically, surprised.

She finally releases her breath and grins.

IV.

Tess Tyler is an ice queen.

She's heard it murmured behind her back, and even spoken to her face.

She lives up to everyone's expectations. Why not put on a show? She _is _a performer, after all.

But no matter how hard she tries, she can never be an ice queen to Nate. He's her only friend. And he gets her more than even she realizes.

He's the first person she really cares for, other than herself. She finds that she _wants_ him to succeed, even if it means that she doesn't see him as much or puts her out of the spotlight. Seeing Nate happy makes her happy, and that's a new concept for Tess.

She doesn't know how to really express it, though. She's not the touchy-feely type of person. She doesn't hug her girlfriends when she sees them, and she doesn't get physically affectionate with boys.

So it's weird when she has this compulsion to lean over and brush Nate's hair out of his eyes when they're working on their song. Or when he gets all sad when he talks about Clara, his little sister, and he looks like a puppy dog, Tess feels this urge to hold his hand or give him a hug or _something_, just so he knows she's there for him.

She feels it especially strongly when Caitlyn flirts with Nate and touches his arm every so often.

He complains to her one day during their free time after a particularly grueling day about the band, how he's worked so hard and it's always been Shane to jump in and save everything. He complains that the girls are always around, always distracting Shane and Jason when they really need to get work done. He complains that he's tired of being dependable, reserved Nate.

"But I like that Nate," she admits mildly.

"You're the only one," he says gruffly. Slowly, hesitantly, she reaches out and places her hand gently on his shoulder. They sit silently like that for a bit.

-

Being affectionate is not something that comes easily to Tess. But luckily, Nate seems to get that. As she gets to know him more, she feels more comfortable around him and slowly, she builds up the trust and confidence to express her affection. She occasionally touches his arm when they're discussing something the band and he gets frustrated to calm him down.

She always asks if she can hug him, because he's hard to read, and he's one of the very few people she wants to please. He always seems surprised when she asks, but he never says no.

Sometimes, when he admits something to her out of the blue, and she has no response, she runs her fingers through his hair, and he gets that that's her way of sympathizing.

When he asks her out at the end of camp, she's so caught up in her euphoria that she practically jumps on him and holds him tightly. She doesn't even have to yes for him to know she agrees.

V.

Quite honestly, Tess doesn't really like Mitchie or Caitlyn at first, for obvious reasons.

But Nate tries to make her feel more included when he realizes that her bitchiness kept everyone away. So whenever they hang out, Mitchie and Caitlyn are there, pretending to be friends but silently judging her.

Shane hates her too, on Mitchie's behalf, so the only person who talks to her is Jason.

Jason might just be her new best friend. She never was very good at being friends with girls, anyway.

Tess isn't stupid. She knows that Shane thinks Tess lured Nate away from Connect and put the idea of a solo project in his head, and that she's trying to tear the band apart. But couldn't the same be said, in a way, of Mitchie? But she's the bad girl here, so she guesses she's going to have to prove to them she's not as manipulating as she looks. She's changed, okay? She knows it's corny, but a lot can happen in one year. There's no way she would have deserved Nate last year at all.

But anyway, when she's around, they try to be nice, but she knows it's so uncomfortable because things were never fully resolved and until Tess proves that she's not a bad girl anymore, Caitlyn and Mitchie don't really trust her. And she doesn't _really_ blame them, but it's annoying.

-

After being forced to spend time with these girls all year, they start to grow on her. She knows that Caitlyn misses her parents more than she's willing to admit and her dog is her best friend, and Mitchie wants to live by the sea when she gets older and teach piano lessons if fame doesn't work out, and Jason knows everything and anything related to quantum physics. Yeah, it freaks her out, too.

She starts to get to know them, and she almost wants to be their friend. Almost.

-

The mean girl at camp the summer after she starts dating Nate is Victoria. British boarding school snob with the looks to match, she's a vicious opponent and has no problem telling people exactly what she thinks of them. Victoria views Mitchie as stiff competition and for some reason decides to make her life as difficult as possible. Tess just scoffs because, hello, been there, done that. It doesn't work, okay?

She tries in her own way to reassure Mitchie, but nothing seems to work. So she just stays quietly at her side and lets Caitlyn and Peggy do the comforting, because Caitlyn knows how to break the tension with a joke, and Peggy knows how to listen, and Tess doesn't really know what to do with herself. So she just stays by her side in a show of solidarity.

She's minding her own business one day when she hears Victoria talking to Mitchie. Tess always knew Victoria had a mean side, but the stuff coming out of her mouth is downright ugly. The old Tess would have been majorly impressed. The new Tess, the one who wants to make Nate proud, the one who's been humbled more times than she'd care to admit, the one who realizes everyone makes mistakes, is disgusted. Mitchie, who never had much of a backbone to begin with, is crumbling. And Tess feels an overwhelming urge to do something.

So she channels the old Tess and sends this brat from the other side of pond to her knees. Being cutthroat has its advantages sometimes. As Victoria leaves humbly, Mitchie looks at Tess gratefully.

"You know, you've got a lot of talent, but you really need to learn to stick up for yourself, Mitchie," she says. She and Mitchie both know it's her peace offering, the olive branch, and luckily for Tess Mitchie accepts it. They walk to lunch together, and when Mitchie fills everyone in on what's happened, Caitlyn acknowledges Tess with a fist bump and Jason gives her a hug.

The best is when Nate leans over and kisses her temple.

"That's my girl," he says proudly, putting an arm around her.

As a general rule, Tess doesn't get choked up, but Nate saying he was proud of her made her want to cry.

-

When Tess realizes things aren't going to get better with her mom years later, she moves out of her Hollywood mansion and into a studio apartment with Caitlyn and Peggy and Mitchie. And she loves it. She loves them.

-

Disclaimer: I am in no way making any sort of profit off of this. Disney owns all, pretty much. (Did you know the parks have their own power sources?) Just thought I should put that out there.


	2. In the Mood for Candlelight

Citadel of Stars, chapter 2

As a general disclaimer, I am merely playing with these lovely characters in Disney's sandbox. Nothing from the movie is of my own creation, and I am not seeking to make any profit from this work.

Also, I'd like to point out that the timeline on this is a little abstract. If you have any question about their ages during specific things, just let me know. It tends to jump around.

VI.

Tess Tyler has problems. Everyone sees it; she recognizes it herself. She's got mommy issues, poor self-esteem, and a neurotic need to be in control at all times.

It's obvious, so no one really tries to help her. They figure someone else will clean up the mess.

Nate Black has problems. But no one sees it; at times, he doesn't even see it himself. But they're there – he's got some serious anxiety and borderline OCD tendencies, and he is terrified of making the wrong decision, so he lets other people act for him.

It's discreet, so no one tries to help him. No one even realizes he needs help.

Tess would probably admit that her biggest flaw is that she is too selfish. She has the tendency to put herself first and she's walked over others to get where she wants to be. But Nate's biggest flaw is that he's too selfless. He's always giving his time and attention to things he doesn't even really care about and it leaves him feeling drained and resentful.

Nate isn't afraid to call Tess out when she's not looking at the bigger picture, or when she takes her feelings out on other people (him). And somehow, he always manages to walk away from the confrontations without a scratch.

Tess has no qualms telling Nate he needs to make his own decisions sometimes, because he knows himself better than anyone else. And she lets him know when it's okay to take some time for himself, instead of letting everyone else push him around all the time. Even though Nate would chew out anyone else, her words get through to him.

When Tess calls up and she can't even use words because she's too upset that her mom's taken off again, Nate always goes over to help her, and he kind of likes the feeling that he can actually _do_ something for her, even if it's just being there. When Nate starts freaking out because he's stressing over band stuff or he has no idea what to do with school or even what to get his family for Christmas, Tess makes him sit down and plan out everything he needs to do.

Somehow, everything balances out.

VII.

The first time they have a real, honest-to-God fight, Tess literally runs away from Nate.

He swears angrily, and figures she'll come back eventually, since she's the kind of girl who always wants the last word.

He tries to calm himself down by picking up a magazine and idly thumbing through it, but half an hour passes and she doesn't show, and he starts to get worried. He searches all through the house to no avail, when he hears sobs from the bathroom. He checks in the room, and finds her curled up in the closet.

She's not a pretty cryer, by any means. Her face is blotchy and he's pretty sure snot's running down her face. But that's what makes it all the more heartbreaking. He extends his hand to help her up and she quickly wraps her arms around him.

Considering the fact that she rarely ever clings to him like this, Nate's pretty sure her crying is one of two things: a) she's really hurt by what he's said to her, or b) this is a bigger issue than the fight they had over Nate going on tour for four months without her.

"Tess," he begins calmly, "why are you so upset?"

She mumbles into his chest, something along the lines of "it's not important."

When he asks her for a second and third time what's wrong, she speaks more clearly.

"It's not a big deal, okay? You probably wouldn't even care," she says quietly.

"I want to fix whatever happened, but I can't do that if you don't tell me what's going on," he replies softly.

"I don't _know_," she wails. "I just, I can't take the yelling!"

He knows more is probably coming at this point, so he sits down on the tile floor with her. She curls up again with her head in her hands. When she looks up again, he can barely see her face from behind her fingers.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I do this," she says finally.

"There's got to be some reason," he states mildly. Tess sighs and rests her chin on her knees.

"When my mom and dad fought, they were loud. Like, really loud. I can't even explain it to you. And I just can't be around that. So there was no other place to escape to except the closet in my room. I know it doesn't make sense, but it helped, so ..."

He scoots over to her and presses a kiss to her forehead.

"I'm sorry that happened. You shouldn't have had to deal with that."

"Like, you have _no idea_ how bad it was, Nate. You are so lucky to have good parents."

He's pretty sure that any promises he makes to her now won't be taken seriously, but he inwardly resolves to try and make up for whatever the hell happened behind closed doors at the Tyler residence.

He learns later that yelling was the least of the problems at her house, and he doesn't know what to do with himself. It's a long time before Tess is able to confront him the normal way, but once they get through their first fight without any truly serious issues popping up, Nate knows they're going to be okay.

VIII.

Nate Black has the most wonderful family in the world, in Tess' eyes.

She's so excited to meet them, after hearing from Nate about how his mom makes the best cherry pie in the whole town, and about how he and his sister Clara trained their dog to stand up on his hind legs, and about all of the family vacations they took and their misadventures along the way. They seem so incredibly normal, and normalcy is something that Tess has craved for a long time.

Nate sympathizes, but he can't really wrap his head around the kind of family that Tess grew up in. Nate's parents have fought, so he understands that discomfort people feel during an argument, but having parents that really truly hate each other is something so much worse.

Tess' mom wasn't really around a lot after her dad passed away; she figures it was her mom's guilt. For some reason, TJ felt that it was partially her fault that Thomas died, and although their marriage had long since turned sour, they did love each other once. So she kept busy by continuing to make and promote her music, thereby leaving Tess in the dust.

When TJ was around, Tess would try her best to impress her, by both acting and looking perfect. Eventually, she figured she would impress her mom even more if she was perfect _all _the time, which she'd like to think explains at least _some_ of the way she acted at Camp.

But fast forward a few years, and things are really serious with Nate, and she's going to be spending the weekend with him and his family. And she really, really wants them to like her, because after hearing so much about them it's like she knows them and they've already become something of a family to her in her mind. So she puts on her nicest slacks and a crisp shirt and straightens her hair and applies her makeup so that it's just right, and climbs into Nate's car and they drive off.

Tess feels like her stomach's up in her throat when she approaches the brick house with the blue shutters that Nate affectionately calls home, and for a moment she pictures all of the infinite things that could go wrong but by then it's too late to rethink her wardrobe choice because they're at the door and ohgodohgodohgod what if Maria Black hates Tess?

She needn't have worried. Maria captures Tess in a warm embrace, and welcomes her to the family, and _then _greets her son, engaging them both in conversation. Maria leads them to the kitchen where Nate's dad and sister are waiting. And Clara's practically bouncing on her heels to show Tess her new outfit. She can tell Nate's embarrassed, but she can also tell how much more at ease he is. He's literally grinning from ear to ear, which is something Tess rarely sees, and he gently places his hand on her lower back as he leads them both to his waiting family.

She hardly knows them, but she loves them. She wants them in her life.

IX.

Tess says she never wants to have children because she'd make a horrible mother, but Nate believes he know better.

Strange as it is to everyone they know, they have talked about whether they wanted kids – it was just them discussing whether they wanted children or not as individuals, although Nate and Tess both know it could weigh on their future as a couple. And while Nate considers it an inevitable blessing, Tess isn't too sure. She is convinced that if she can't even understand Jason, who's one of her best friends, how can she understand a child?

But Nate's seen differently. One day when they're lounging around at the pool in Tess' apartment building, a young woman asked them both if they could keep an eye on her daughter who was swimming while she went to change her baby. Instead of just watching the girl from her chair like Nate half expected her to do, she cautiously approaches the young girl and begin playing in the water with her. By the time the young woman comes back, Tess and the little girl are interacting as if they have known each other all their lives.

And he'll never forget seeing her hold her cousin for the first time. The way she so tenderly held the baby as if he were the most fragile thing in the world, and seeing the look of wonder on her face was more than enough proof that she would be a good mother. She seemed so entranced by the tiny baby that she was lost in her own world.

It made him wonder, fleetingly, what it would be like if they had a family.

X.

The worst fight Nate and Tess ever have is, ironically enough, when they're not even in the same country.

Connect 3 is touring Europe with their opening act being Mitchie and Peggy, who have been collaborating on enough songs to make an album between their own solo albums, and Tess is at home, enrolled part-time in UCLA. The distance is hard, but they've been through it before, and Nate's pretty confident that they'll go out of this even better off than they were before. He makes sure that they keep in touch at the very least every other day. The record label gets annoyed because he's ringing up a huge bill, but he doesn't really care.

Unfortunately, Tess still freaks out. She calls him five times one day, and when he finally calls back she starts screaming into the phone about how he lied to her and what made him think it was okay to see someone else and she thought he cared about her and respected her more than that. When he replies that he has no idea what she's talking about, she replies with _read a fucking magazine, Nathaniel_.

So going on that oh-so-clear clue, he goes to the corner drugstore and finds a number of tabloids with the covers proclaiming Nate having an affair with some reporter. He met the girl once, so he can't figure out for the life of him why the tabloids would be writing this garbage. He calls Tess later and tries to explain that this isn't true, that he hardly remembers the girl, but Tess tells him there've been two weeks worth of articles describing all the details of their supposedly sordid affair.

He doesn't know what to do. He knows telling Tess to keep calm will make her feel worse, and he can't ask the guys for advice. Shane's too sickeningly cute with Mitchie, and Jason's worrying about dealing with both Caitlyn and Peggy, who are fighting over him and telling him to choose even though he doesn't even want a girlfriend. And he is _not_ going to ask the roadies. They'd just laugh at him and pinch his cheeks. He has no one to go to, no one who can help make this right.

The headlines keep coming, and now that he's aware of the rumors being spread about him, he checks those articles more often. More and more girls that he vaguely recalls meeting at concerts claim he flirted with them and acted inappropriately for a guy with a girlfriend. He never even talked to them for more than a second, but the rags don't bother contacting him for a statement. He hopes that the people who know him will know none of the stories are true.

He knows things are bad, though, when his mom calls him to berate him.

"Tess has been walking around like a ghost, Nate. How could this happen?" she demands angrily. She's gotten close to Tess, becoming something of a mother figure to the girl. Nate should have known she'd have something to say.

"Mom, I can't do anything! I don't even know who these people are. How am I supposed to fix this?"

"You know better than I do, Nate. You need to figure something out _soon_."

He writes an entire song that night, venting all his frustration and his hopes that Tess will forgive him for the media circus.

He comes clean to the band, and surprisingly they understand what he needs to do. Mitchie promises she'll do what she can to convince Tess of Nate's innocence.

The next night, fans are shocked to hear that Nate has left the tour to go home and focus on his relationship. Shane tells the crowd he respects Nate's decision to put the people in his life before fame, and he sways the public opinion in Nate's favor.

Nate posts a video on youtube describing his outrage at the rumors going around, his frustration at having no say in the matter, and his confusion as to how this story developed in the first place. Within hours the video goes viral and it's had over three million views. News and entertainment programs cover it with interest, noting the anger apparent in his words and demeanor.

He goes back to Tess' apartment a week later, not really sure of what he's going to say to make things up to her. She opens the door the third time he rings it, albeit slowly.

They stand at her door, just looking at each other, for several moments. She holds up a tabloid, the headline screaming "Nate Black victim of libel?"

"Trust me, you're not forgiven yet," she says seriously. "But it's a start."

He takes it happily. Six weeks later they're releasing a joint statement that they are back together, and that Tess will support Nate as he files his libel suit.

Oh, and his mom's proud of him, too.

**A special thank-you to Hot Pink Girl, .applepips, valele, and D R O W N – I N – S E Q U I N S for the incredible reviews! Love you all :)**


End file.
